Reflection measurements characterize a two-terminal port of a device under test. The device may have only one port or may have multiple ports. The fundamental measurement is the complex reflection coefficient (as a function of frequency). Often, the magnitude of the reflection coefficient is displayed on a decibel scale, resulting in a return loss measurement. The reflection coefficient can also be converted to other forms such as standing wave ratio and impedance.

Chapter Contents:

• 16.1 Rectangular Display Formats
• 16.2 Polar Display Formats
• 16.3 Directional Bridges and Couplers
• 16.4 Insertion Loss
• 16.5 Coupling Factor
• 16.6 Directivity
• 16.7 Reflection Configuration
• 16.8 Normalization
• 16.9 Error in Reflection Measurements
• 16.10 Error Correction
• 16.11 Normalization Revisited
• 16.12 Two-Term Error Correction
• 16.13 Three-Term Error Correction
• 16.14 Resistive Bridge
• 16.15 Two-Port Error Correction
• 16.16 Opens, Shorts, and Z 0 Loads
• References

Inspec keywords: microwave measurement; loss measurement; electromagnetic wave reflection; S-parameters

Other keywords: two-terminal port; return loss measurement; The reflection coefficient; standing wave ratio; decibel scale; s-parameter notation; reflection measurements; device under test

Subjects: Phase and gain measurement; Electromagnetic wave propagation; Microwave measurement techniques